I was present yesterday at Poulin's (long day) and thought I would share some of the observations. First, good news and bad. I came home with rifles (more later) and money. A lot of the expensive stuff went.... expensive.
My expectations of the Faris Collection quality I guess was inflated. Most of the pieces there had problems (thus were in the second auction??) I feel for the absentee bidders who spent a lot and were expecting more.
Some examples I have never seen in person before, and unlikely will see again. The trench SMLE/periscope set up was very unique but unfortunately, the rifle was a mix-master, the Long Branch Trade Pattern was very nice but also had a mis-matched scope which is not a deal breaker but I hope the buyer saw this.
The RWMP LEC was excellent along with the LMC and the Trial's No.5's were in excellent shape
The Trials No. 4 with Watson Mk I was an excellent example, originally paired with scope #1150; I was hoping that the scope was my missing Watson from my Trials. No luck, the scope was #1207 (I'm still looking for #1186) and was in need of a Peter O/H with seized drums and a broken cross wire. There was a second Trials T without scope later in the auction that was totally reworked with an un-numbered bolt and SMLE cocking piece. The receiver was in great shape for the new owner to work with.
I was interested in the '77 L42 made on a '42/43 Fazakerly receiver. It looked original but.... The 19T proof the receiver was not clean and the front pad had been removed and reinstalled after conversion and the pad staking was not either not present or poorly done (I cannot remember).
Another interesting piece for me that I did not get was the .22 Long Mk II. It was matching (a rarity as most to all of the military Long Lee's had mis-matched bolts, or more) with the only down side of an ugly forend repair.
There were two lots with Nepalese SMLE's, both examples were very rough, rare but need a lot of love.
The two .22 Pattern 1918's of interest, one as it was very similar to mine and in great shape (the '17 Enfield receiver), the first example on the '14 Enfield receiver was also excellect with a un-numbered nose piece but the barrel crown was very, very shiney and it did not have the second receiver marking the '17 had. Possibly it was a early conversion or a commercial post-war set up.
Finally, as mentioned elseware, there were the 13 transit chests, 6 No. 4, 6 L42 and 1 CNo.7. I was hoping to be the hero and stayed an extra 2.5 hours to bid on them, but lost out. Most the L42 chests were in serviceable condition, 4 '71 labels, 1 '75 label, one without, s/n's posted in the other post. The No.4 chests were all mostly complete with two having replaced lids (which looked ok), all but two had missing or broken leather handles.
A fun day overall.
